In her book If Women Rose Rooted and related writings, Sharon Blackie coins the term “eco-heroine” to describe women whose life work follows “a path to understanding how deeply enmeshed we are in the web of life on this planet.” Such a path, she says, “requires us to step into our own power and take back our ancient, native role as [Earth’s] guardians and protectors. To rise up rooted, like trees.”
Today, we can find eco-heroines all around us—across nations, cultures and identities, throughout the lifespan, in many fields and walks of life. Some, like Blackie, may attribute their vocation to an “ancient, native role”; others may view their dedication in more practical terms. But it’s undeniable that these twenty-first century defenders and protectors of the earth and its inhabitants didn’t spring from nowhere. They stand on the shoulders of environmental foremothers who defied gender expectations—and for many, other dimensions of exclusion and marginalization as well–to become scientists and writers, explorers and advocates, activists and visionaries whose work has laid essential foundations for today’s environmental movements.
How many early eco-heroines are you familiar with? This quiz to close out Women’s History Month features a sampling. Some may well be new to many—others are more widely known. Most hail from the nineteenth or twentieth centuries—a few are more recent, but their groundbreaking efforts give them “foremother” status. Some have already made an appearance in this blog; some may well show up here in the future, along with some of the many contemporary eco-heroines who are carrying on their legacy today.
So let’s get started. Match the eco-heroines in the first column with their accomplishments in the second. Feel free to cheat and do some research—you’ll find some powerful and fascinating stories. Scroll to the bottom of the image to check out the answers.
| 1. Eunice Newton Foote | a. Her futuristic fiction warned of the breakdown of society due to climate change and ecological disaster. |
| 2. Hazel Johnson | b. She started out as a nuclear physicist, but influenced by the plight of her country’s impoverished villagers and farmers, became a leading international ecofeminist. |
| 3. Sylvia Earle | c. This courageous Lenca activist was assassinated after leading a successful grassroots effort to halt a major dam project on Río Gualcarque in Honduras. |
| 4. Berta Caceres | d. The work of this groundbreaking marine explorer and ocean protector has recently been celebrated by a series of LEGO deep sea exploration building kits. |
| 5. Wangari Maathai | e. This early female physicist and women’s suffrage advocate was the first to identify the greenhouse effect in a paper presented at a scientific conference in 1856. |
| 6. Vandana Shiva | f. Known as the mother of the environmental justice movement, she led the fight against pollution and toxic waste on the south side of Chicago, and advocated globally for environmental responsibility on the part of government and business. |
| 7. Rachel Carson | g. As a college student in 1889, she organized protests against the practice of killing birds for the use of their feathers in hat-making, and became a lifelong crusader for bird protection. |
| 8. Margaret Murie | h. She led protests against uranium mining and proposed nuclear testing in the South Dakota Black Hills near the Pine Ridge Reservation, home of her Oglala Sioux tribe. |
| 9. Octavia Butler | i. She founded the Green Belt Movement to promote environmental stewardship and African women’s empowerment, for which she was awarded the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize |
| 10. Florence Merriam Bailey | j. Her controversial 1962 book and subsequent Congressional testimony led to a ban on domestic use of the toxic pesticide DDT and helped establish the Environmental Protection Agency. |
| 11. Joann Tall | k. This intrepid author, adventurer and conservation activist was instrumental in the creation of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and Grand Teton National Park |
Answers: 1-e, 2-f, 3-d, 4-c, 5-i, 6-b, 7-j, 8-k, 9-a, 10-g, 11-h
How did it go? Did you find any new inspiration for your own eco-heroine’s journey? Are there other environmental foremothers you think should be on this list? Feel free to let us know in the comments.
______________________________________________________________
Art notes. To see more of the kind of art you that moves you on Big Planet Love, you can follow Elena Stone Arts on Instagram. I look forward to seeing you there!
Thank you to our subscribers and to those who have shared previous Big Planet Love posts. If you haven’t subscribed, you can do so by clicking the button below. And if you’re so inclined, please keep sharing and spreading the word!
Land acknowledgment. Big Planet Love is created in Cambridge, Massachusetts on the ancestral and unceded lands of the Massachusett people. We acknowledge the ancestors and current community members in gratitude and respect.
Big Planet Love is a project of Elena Stone Arts and the Center for Women’s Health and Human Rights at Suffolk University.
Thank you for this insightful quiz . It’s both inspiring and humbling to learn about these remarkable women who defied expectations and paved the way for today’s environmental movements. I have also some writing tips, look at this contact form please. This quiz serves as a wonderful reminder of the strength and resilience of women throughout history. As we reflect on Women’s History Month, let’s continue to honor and draw inspiration from these trailblazers as we work towards a more sustainable and harmonious world.